Aircraft



Nov. 13, 1945. E. A. STALKER 7 ,8

AIRCRAFT Filed Aug. 12,1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l NVENTOR gum/MM E. A. STALKER AIRCRAFT Filed Aug. 12; 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Patented Nov. 13, i945 1 Claim. My invention relates to aircraft and has for its objects, first to provide a means adaptable to any engine of utilizing the propeller to furnish power'while acting as a windmill free of the drag of the engine when it is dead; second to provide means incorporating an efficient arrangement of the engine nacelle relative to the wing; and third to provide an aircraft incorporating novel arrangements of its power plant and wing. Other objects will appear from the specification.

My application Serial No. 304,188 exhibits some cooling arrangements having some resemblance to that of the present application. The present application is different in that it refers to engines within nacelles.

One feature in particular of this invention is a means of using radial engines whose crank shaft is in line with the propeller shaft and which provides for taking power off the propeller generated by it acting as a windmill, while eliminating the 7 need to rotate a dead engine by the propeller;

In this way more power is available from' the propeller.

It is impracticable in a radial engine to have an auxiliary shaft extending from the propeller shaft rearward past the bank of cylinders to a blower in the rear of the engine-in the wing for instance as in a conventional wing-engine arrangement. This can be done practically with an in-line engine as set forth in my U. S. Patent No. 1,913.644. A bankof radial cylinders, however, would make necessary additional shafts and gears to get from the propeller shaft in front out arouncf the engine to a blower in the rear. The

present invention rearranges the engine and propeller in a novel manner.

The invention also sets forth an engine nacelle or body housing an en ine which causes the mini- 6 and its action is improved by the air discharged from slots 9.

Air is supplied for combustion in the engine by the duct l5 which has two branches l6 and I7, one leading to the passage l8 into which the blower l discharges and the other to the passage mum disturbance of the flow about the aircraft.

and gills normally present for cooling the engine and feedin its carburetor.

Figures 1 to 5 show the preferred form of the invention wherein the wing is I. the engine nacelle is 2, the fuselage is 3. and the propeller is 4. The wing has the slot 5 in the flap 8. A blower. I inducts air through the slot 5 and forces it past the cylinders of the engine 2a, thence back to the wing through the duct 8, It is then discharged from the wing through slots 9 in the wing sur-' face.

The engine is connected to the propeller by means of the overrunning clutch III at the nose of the en ine and the propeller shaft I I which arries fixed to it the bevel gear l2 in mesh with the gear l3 on the blower l.

It will now be clear that the propeller could be operated as a windmill to drive the blower I while free of the resistance 01' the engine because of the overnmning clutch ill.

The wing has the aileron l4 hinged to the flap I9 which is annular in shape and conducts the heated air from, the engine into the wing passage B.

A valve 20 is used to select the passage from which air is to be drawn. If there is danger of icing the air is drawn from passage l9, otherwise from passage l8.

In the present-day airplanethe engine nacelle takes in air at the nose and discharges just to the rear of the engine through a slot in its wall. There are. two major disadvantages to this scheme. The front of the nacelle is blunt and open to the air so that it is not streamline. This causes drag. The drag of the poor streamline nose is made worse by the discharge of the cooling air through the nacelle slot. This air has little velocity and when discharged over the upper surface of the wing it spoils the lift and creates added wing drag.

In this invention the nacelle has a perfect streamline nose giving only a small drag. No

air is discharged atlow velocity to spoil the lift because the blower replaces the pressure lost in flowing past the cylinders.

It will now be clear that I have provided a novel arrangement of engine, nacelle, propeller and blower which utilizes a radial engine with the minimum 'of parts'and provides a power plant of low external drag.

It will also be clear that it provides a simple means of heating the surface of the wing with wing having anintake slot in its surface in communication ith its interior, an engine and an engine nacelle to house the engine. said nacelle being substantially closed to the head on influx of the relative wind. a blower operable by said en ine and in communication with said intake slot to induct air therethrough, duct means in communication with said blower to pass the inducted air past the engine in said nacelle and back into the wing interior for discharge therefrom. means for supplying combustion air to said engine, and adjustable means for selectively drawing. said combustion air either from the air supplied by said blower to said engine, or from the air after passage over said engine. 

